Italy has been under a nationwide lockdown since March 10.
The lockdown period, which has since been extended twice, is due to expire on May 3.
Conte must tread carefully while trying to avoid a renewed spike in infections at the same time as preventing additional damage to the paralysed economy.
“I would like to be able to say, let’s open everything. Right away,” Conte wrote on Facebook.
“But such a decision would be irresponsible.
“It would make the contagion curve rise uncontrollably and would jeopardise all the efforts that we’ve made until now.”
Conte outlined the challenges of the so-called “Phase 2” in relaxing the restrictions, saying a plan would be laid out “before the end of this week”.
“A reasonable expectation is that we will apply it from May 4,” he said.
“We have to reopen on the basis of policy that takes into consideration all the details and cuts across all the data.
“A serious policy, scientific.”
Conte said if businesses were to reopen, officials would need to consider how people would travel to and from work without causing crowds and triggering a new wave of the virus.
Conte said the plan would be implemented nationwide, but would take into account regional differences.
Some in southern Italy have complained about the fact that they must adhere to the same restrictions as northern regions, despite having a lower infection rate.
But authorities fear that lifting restrictions could trigger an outbreak in the south, placing further strain on underfunded hospitals.
It comes as the number of coronavirus patients in Italy’s hospitals – including people in intensive care units – has continued to drop, according to the country’s health ministry.
The nation saw a daily increase in confirmed cases of 2729, however the majority of infected people in Italy have been self-isolating at home.
In total, Italy has nearly 184,000 confirmed cases since the outbreak began.
Italy recorded another 534 deaths from coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the national death toll 24,648.
